COLUMN DU JOUR

Romney’s record of judicial capitulation

Rick Santorum on Mitt's governorship: 'He never fought for a conservative nominee'

Published: 01/20/2012 at 12:39 PM

(WASHINGTON TIMES) — Name the last nominee to the Supreme Court by a Democratic president who turned out to be a judicial conservative. Maybe Justice Byron White, appointed by John F. Kennedy, who dissented from Roe v. Wade, but one largely draws a blank. Ask the converse, and the list is long and disheartening. Republican appointees formed the majority in Roe v. Wade (Harry Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Lewis F. Powell Jr., Potter Stewart and Warren E. Burger). Earl Warren was appointed by Dwight Eisenhower, John Paul Stephens by Gerald Ford. George H.W. Bush nominated David H. Souter, a blunder mitigated by the nomination of Clarence Thomas. Even conservative-by-instinct George W. Bush nominated Harriet Miers, who withdrew in the face of conservative indignation, in favor of Samuel Anthony Alito Jr.

Imagine what America would look like today if those nominees named by Republican presidents had been, instead, persons in the tradition of Antonin Scalia, Justice Thomas, John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Alito. Imagine if we had today a reliable majority in favor of preserving marriage, defending the unborn, protecting religious freedom, preserving the proper role of states and upholding the Founders’ view of the Constitution.